The supposed haunted Highgate Cemetery in London left to decay suddenly became the hotspot for paranormal and occult phenomenon in the 1970s, when reports about the Highgate Vampire became a sensation and the hunt for it began.
Settled in the heart of North London lies a place that’s shrouded in mystery and intrigue – Highgate Cemetery. With its overgrown pathways, eerie Victorian tombs, and gothic architecture, it’s no wonder this place has developed a reputation for being one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world and was certainly one of the most spookiest places in the 60s and 70s.
From tales of ghostly apparitions to reports of unexplained phenomena, the dark secrets of Highgate Cemetery have captivated the imaginations of many over the years. But what is it about this place that has people so fascinated?
The Dark History of Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery was opened in 1839 in Camden and quickly became the resting place of choice for wealthy Victorians and has today over 170 000 people buried there. The cemetery was designed by architect Stephen Geary and was intended to be a place where the rich and famous could be buried in style. However, as the years went by, the cemetery fell into disrepair and began to attract a less desirable clientele.
By the turn of the 20th century, Highgate Cemetery had become a shadow of its former self, with many of its tombs and monuments falling into a state of disrepair.
Famous Graves and their Mysterious Stories
Highgate Cemetery is home to many famous graves, each with its own fascinating story. One of the most famous graves in the cemetery is that of Karl Marx, the father of communism. Marx’s grave is a place of pilgrimage for many socialists and communists, who come to pay their respects to one of the most influential political thinkers of the modern era.
Another famous grave in the cemetery is that of Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Adams’ grave is a popular destination for fans of his work, who often leave tributes and memorials at the site.
But perhaps the most mysterious grave in Highgate Cemetery is that of Elizabeth Siddal. Siddal was a model and artist who was married to the pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. After her death, Rossetti buried a manuscript of his poems in her coffin. The manuscript was later exhumed, and the poems were published, but were not a commercial success. Her husband was haunted by his action for the rest of his days.
The Ghosts of Highgate Cemetery
There have been tales about the paranormal surrounding the cemetery for decades. After WW2 the cemetery fell into disarray and had little to no maintenance for a long time. In 1960 and 70s, it was so overgrown and left to decay that it was a perfect setting for horror movies like Taste the Blood of Dracula from 1970 and Tales from the Crypt in 1972.
There were reports of locals from 1965 about seeing ghosts around the premises. There were especially two different figures that had been seen. One was that of an older woman wearing all white that was haunting the graves, looking after the graves of her murdered children. Another thing that was talked about was the skeleton that was standing guard by the main gate.
There were also those that told that occult and even satanic rituals were held in the cemetery, people rising from the graves and other strange phenomena that attracted the attention of seekers of the strange and the paranormal.
The Grey Figures Haunting the Cemetery
Over the years, there have been countless reports of strange sightings and unexplained phenomena at Highgate Cemetery in addition to the strange case of the Highgate Vampire. Many visitors to the cemetery have reported feeling a sense of unease or being watched, while others have claimed to have seen ghostly apparitions moving among the graves.
In 1970 there was a man that wrote to the paper about seeing strange figures at the cemetery. On 24th of December he had passed the cemetery and seen what he described as a “gray figure” and asked if people had seen something similar.
Read More: Check out all of the ghost stories from haunted cemeteries around the world.
The man was David Farrant, an investigator for the British Occult Society and in his article headlined: “Why do foxes die?” he claimed that the foxes that had been found dead in the cemetery with their throats slit had been killed by the Vampire.
People replied and told about many different figures that they had seen that they thought had to be of a supernatural origin. There was one tall man in a hat, a ghost of a cyclist as well as a woman wearing all white that was glaring at them through the bars. Another figure had been seen wading through a pond.
There was then a man named Sean Manchester that claimed that the gray figures they had seen was that of a vampire practicing black magic and even made a claim that this phenomena they were now witnessing was the King of Vampires from Wallachia, the home of Dracula before having being buried in the cemetery but awakened by satanists.
Manchester was a bishop of the Old Catholic Church, not related to the Vatican, and a self-proclaimed exorcist as well as a vampire hunter. Soon the two men were on a mission to be the first to stop and capture the vampire and restore the peace of the holy ground of the cemetery.
The Highgate Vampire Frenzie
The legend of the Highgate Vampire quickly spread, and soon the cemetery was attracting visitors from all over the world who were keen to catch a glimpse of the legendary creature.
Read More: Check out the story of Paris’ Haunted Père Lachaise Cemetery or Poveglia Island — The Most Haunted Place in the World for more stories about vampires.
Farrand and Manchester both claimed they were the one to get rid of the figure and Manchester said he was going to hold an exorcism in the cemetery the 13th of March in 1970 and they were filmed and interviewed about it.
After they were shown on TV a mob of people that wanted to see for themselves flooded the cemetery. The police tried to control the masses by locking the gates, but they got over the gates and walls in the chaos. They were armed with stakes and roamed the cemetery to find the vampire and opened graves, beheaded and staked the corpses.
Despite the fact that the vampire was never actually seen, the legend had a profound effect on the cemetery. Over the years, Highgate Cemetery has become synonymous with the supernatural, and many people believe that the cemetery is haunted by the ghosts of those who were buried there.
The Finding of the Staked Body
Months later the case was still widely discussed. On August 1st, a woman’s body was found headless and burnt close to the catacomb by two school girls. It was the body of a woman that had died a 100 years ago, been dragged from her coffin and staked through the heart before being left on the pathway. The police suspected she had been used in some sort of black magic ritual.
When the police were searching the next couple of days, they found Farrant wandering around in the churchyard next to the cemetery with a crucifix and a wooden stake on the 17th of August.
He had gathered his Society to do an exorcism by holding a seance. He tried to run for the exit when the police arrived, but was caught and arrested, but when the case came to court it was dismissed.
It was not the last time Manchester visited Highgate Cemetery either. According to him his psychic helper guided him to a family vault where they broke open the door. He claims he lifted the lid of one of the coffins that he thought didn’t belong in the vault and had mysteriously been moved there from another catacomb.
Right before he was about to stake the body in the coffin, another one of his helpers stopped him. He reluctantly listened and left garlic and incense in the vault before they exited out from the vault.
After the Media Circus Died Down
Both Farrant and Manchester kept the legends about the strange satanic things going on at Highgate Cemetery, long after the other moved on.
Farrant was arrested and jailed in 1974 for vandalism and desecration of the graves and the dead at the cemetery. He kept insisting that it was the work of Satanist’s and not him. He was also involved in politics and ran as the sole candidate for the Wicca Workers Party. His cases were for free nudity and sex as well as establishing state brothels. He was less keen on communism which he wanted to ban as well as leaving the EU Common Market.
Their feud about what happened at Highgate Cemetery until Farrant died in 2019. They even challenged each other to a “Magician’s Duel” that was supposed to take place on Parliament Hill on Friday 13th in 1973, although that never happened.
There were rumors that the two were going to sacrifice a cat in front of naked virgins. When a man’s cat never returned home one day after this, Farrant was persecuted by the RSPCA and the media as they thought he was behind the disappearance of the man’s beloved pet.
Later he did sue News of the World for him being portrayed as a cat killer. And for the RSPCA inspectors, he sent them voodoo dolls with pins stuck in their heads, as well as two of the police officers that were involved in the arrest in 1974.
Staking the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery
Manchester on his end continued to write blog posts about Farrant, illustrating paintings of him looking like a demon and said he had a narcissistic personality disorder.
On his quest to rid London of what he called the King of Vampires, he claimed to have tracked it down to a house in Crouch End. There he had staked the vampire and burnt the body, finally ridding them of the vampire tormenting Camden Town.
Dracula A.D 1972 were inspired by the bizarre events:
Behind the Hunt for Media Attention
What really happened in Highgate Cemetery is up for speculation. How much occult rituals and pagan sex parties with the devil really did happened or was blown up in the media’s satanic panic headlines is uncertain.
Today we don’t really hear much about vampires or ghosts from the cemetery other than hardcore paranormal investigators or curious tourists that wants to have a look at what it’s all about. Because who really knows, it is certainly not the first, nor the last cemetery were a vampire is rumoured to roam.
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Featured Image: Nick Garrod/Flickr
The strange tale of the Highgate vampire
The hunt for a vampire in Highgate Cemetery that led to a real magician feud – MyLondon
